The first time we saw the Amazon blurb for Nyx I was immediately intrigued.

“Nyx, a sarcastic, mouthy fairy, is hurled into Hell, but instead of damned souls and devils, she finds only a group of confused, young human witches.”

Talk about a strong opener. Blending fantasy, witchcraft, and teenage hormones is a wild ride, and one we knew we wanted to hear more from the author about. He was kind enough to talk about his experiences writing this quirky novel, and his experiences on the self-publishing grind.

Growing up in the sparse beauty of the Mojave desert, his first school was actually called Tumbleweed Elementary. Since then, he has lived in San Francisco, Brooklyn, and Hollywood, before settling down in the lush beauty of Oregon with his wife and son. Being from the desert, the rain doesn’t bother him. In fact, he thinks it’s still kind of exotic, as are all the green things growing right out of the ground.

What is your favorite book?

I could make a list of perhaps my favorite 200 books, and they’re favorites for all sorts of different reasons. Great stories, fascinating characters, exotic settings, guilty pleasures, and difficult but fulfilling works. One of the most inspirational books I’ve read is Imaginary Cities by Italo Calvino. It blew my mind when I first read it. It’s a conversation between Marco Polo and Kubla Khan where Marco describes wildly fantastic and impossible cities to the fabulously wealthy ruler. I’ve always put it on a pedestal as an example of a writer with a great imagination.

Do you have a day job? What is it?

I’m a web developer, and have been for almost 20 years.

When you began the process of writing your book, had you ever heard of self-publishing?

I became interested in self-publishing when I couldn’t get an agent to give me anything more detailed than a form rejection letter. While I was writing, I knew self-publishing was an option, but I tried to focus on the story instead of worrying about publishing.

What are the benefits of self-publishing?

The main benefit is that the book actually got published, with a cover I love, and I didn’t have to wait for someone else’s approval to get that done.

I wouldn’t say that self-publishing gives you a more flexible schedule, since it requires a lot more time than traditional publishing, since you have to lay out the book, get the cover right, and create a properly formatted e-book. That part of the process took me months, and that doesn’t include any of the marketing you have to do yourself, too. Marketing is hard, too. It’s hard to find access to an audience and get people interested in reading Nyx.

What is the greatest struggle you find as a self-published author?

The writing itself takes the most time, of course, but it’s also the most fun. For me, marketing is the hardest part. The goal of my marketing is to figure out who would be interested in Nyx and then letting them know it exists. I’ve used Facebook, Amazon KDP promotions, Reddit, and giving a copy to anyone in my life who seemed interested. Sales are slow, but at least I’m still selling a book every so often, and people keep putting it on their to-read shelf on goodreads, so I’m optimistic.

Did you work with a paid editor?

My editor is my wife, so while I didn’t pay her, other people (like Disney) have. The best way to handle criticism is to just take your ego out of it. It isn’t fun, but it’s absolutely vital. When it comes to listenting to an editor, pride is poison.

What about the book cover?

I tried to design it myself, but it just ended up looking cheap and clearly self-published. I ended up hiring a small design company to do the cover. It was spendy, but I’m thrilled with the result, and I expect I’ll use them again.

Did you purchase your own ISBN, or work with a company to purchase rights and an ISBN?

I bought a pack of 10 ISBNs in an abundance of caution of wanting to own my own work, but I’m not sure that was really necessary.

Do you have more e-Book or hard copy sales?

Definitely more e-book sales, maybe four to five times as much.

How do you market and brand your stories?

I only have one book out there, Nyx. I’m an unknown author hawking a self-published fantasy novel, so people are understandably leery of picking it up. Self-published novels have a terrible reputation, and that’s not totally undeserved. Since my major obstacles were obscurity and reluctance (due to being self-published), I decided to give away as many copies of my books as I could, in order to build as much word-of-mouth as possible. I might have lost about 50 or so sales with that tactic, but my goal isn’t to sell 50 books, it’s to sell 50,000. Many of my Facebook friends got a free copy, as did all of my real-world friends who wanted one. One of my friend’s teenage daughter liked Nyx so much she’s dressing up as the character for Halloween, which I’m pretty honored by. To overcome the reluctance to pick up the book, I got the best cover I possibly could, since when I’m looking for new books to read, I absolutely judge books by their cover.

I’ve also contacted about 125 book bloggers and sent a nice email, asking if they’d like to review it. Only about ten said they’d review it, and maybe four have actually reviewed the book. I haven’t noticed any bump in sales from those reviews, so I’m not yet convinced that book review blogs are worth the effort.

Did you publish through Amazon?

I did publish through Amazon, since that’s the largest marketplace for books. I used Createspace (which Amazon owns) to make Nyx a print-on-demand book, and they make the process pretty easy.

How did you decide to price your book?

I priced the paperback so that I’d make about a dollar for every sale, and that came to $12.99. I set the e-book at $2.99, which seemed like a good deal for a 480-page book.

What kind of support would be most helpful to self-published authors?

Marketing support would be the greatest help. Help getting reviewed would also be nice. Unfortunately, marketing for fiction is a lot harder than for non-fiction. With non-fiction, you can have a blog that regularly expounds on the subject matter, extends the message that’s in the book, hold workshops and such. With fiction, who cares about a blog? I’ve never looked at an author’s blog – I don’t care. I just want to read their books. The most consistent advice I’ve heard about marketing self-published fiction is, “Write another book.” I’m working on the sequel to Nyx, so I’ll let you know how that works out.

Gimme Shelter is a walk through an angry author’s life, a sometimes schizophrenic timeline detailing an anger problem, and the soothing remedy of Tanner- a pit bull adopted in the author’s later life with a nature distinctly different from the writer’s. It is a memoir that is well-written and full of emotion. The characters portrayed are raw, imperfect, and in need of attention, just as real humans are. And the story propelling the narrative is one of heartbreak and recovery- a feel good, motivational tale of love and acceptance.

Interspersed with a detailed, and well-written, albeit sprawling autobiography, are family photos and advice gathered from around the net on a variety of subjects, most relating to care for dogs, specifically pit bulls. While the additions are interesting, they take away from the flow of the story, creating a mash-up of a story that feels somewhat like a motivational novella, a self-help book, and an engaging story of the bond between human and animal.

Unfortunately, the flow between these segments feels off, as the timeline of the writer’s exploits is somewhat irregular, with vague references to past events, and shallow descriptions of auxiliary characters who add little to the plot.

At the heart of this book is a strong journey between a man suffering to right the painful wrongs of the very beginnings of his childhood by reconnecting with an animal whose disposition is sweet and kind, despite trauma and abandonment. In many ways, the timelines of author and pet are very similar, and the work bridges many important questions about the bonds between man and animal, abuse and recovery, and family. Yet the story is saturated with other tidbits which should be distilled to provide an exciting snapshot of life, without information irrelevant to the story, and with a stronger focus on the acts of recovery that define us all.

Bites of Violence: Volume Two breaks off in ten short stories, the longest of which is just over two pages. The short stories are well-written snapshots that read like a videogame, delving into battles through vivid descriptions of tactics and scenery, yet devoid of the human emotions of war. Indeed, the anthology feels like a camera is posed to take a wide shot on a series of exciting battles, as though the reader is watching intense, depersonalized large-scale clashes with an emphasis on the action, not the actors.

This approach, and the short, palatable lengths of the stories, gives the opportunity to traverse into new worlds, from snow-covered mountains where soldiers wage battle with huge skis tied to their feet, to the desert on horseback with “Holy Army of the Three” in just pages, like a travel narrative with a focus on real-time battles.

In each story, there are clear opposing sides, some of which seem to bear resemblance to true military battles, as the vivid imagery of “Beach Attack” draws parallels to the invasion of Normandy’s beaches in World War II, while others lead readers to the fictional land of “Trahpal.” While individual characters are not introduced, and back stories are not developed, they do not need to be: the appeal of this work lies in the ability to take in the great treacheries and terrors of war in a grand, sweeping overview that piques the reader’s interest and takes them to a set conclusion, leaving them wanting for the next story, much like the various levels of a videogame.

“Bites” is the correct title for this collection, as these wide-angle views into battle are extensive enough to explore the soldiers themselves, but rather tell of the mastery of war itself, with small pictures extracted and bottled into twelve over-arching stories that will delight videogame fans and fantasy lovers.

Number of Pages: 42

Recommended For: a stormy afternoon or an evening with a dramatic sunset